Woolworths, Coles, BHP, Best & Less and the RBA are just some of the big names that have hit the front page (for the wrong reasons) when they admitted they underpaid staff.
Recently Australian retailer Best & Less announced it was back paying staff more than $5.2m after it was revealed workers were being incorrectly paid or not properly reimbursed. The underpayments, which were self-reported, affected 686 current and former store managers who worked at the company between 2013 and 2020.#
It’s critical every business owner is aware of their obligations – to ensure your brand does not hit the news for the wrong reasons!
Here are some key questions to ask:
- Are you confident that you are meeting all necessary legislative requirements?
- Are all Enterprise Agreements, Awards and contractual obligations being implemented?
- Can your payroll team easily produce any required reporting?
- Are you meeting your superannuation obligations regarding your employees?
- Does your payroll team need any additional training?
- Have you automated all of the payroll processes you can?
- Do you have appropriate segregation of duties, i.e., between leave approvers, payroll preparers and payment approvers.
- Have you recently had an external review on your staff payments?
When it comes to best practice, an external review should ideally be undertaken on an annual basis to ensure you are meeting all required obligations. This will look at:
- Superannuation – are you paying the correct percentage and applying this on ‘ordinary time earnings’ (OTE).
- Review the arrangements with any Contractors – are they a Contractor or should they be deemed an Employee?
- If you have any concerns regarding your employment contracts, we have a trusted network of legal referral partners who we can assist with a review of your contracts and check award rates and allowances if applicable for your industry.
- Payroll tax – confirming you are meeting all compliance obligations?
If you are looking for peace of mind via a ‘Health Check’ – your ESV Engagement Partner can assist with a review of your obligations and work with alliance partners if something falls out of our area of expertise.
Should you have any questions please reach out to your Engagement Partner.
#source – Fair Work Ombudsman
